THE PARADOX OF HUNGER AND OBESITY IN AMERICA
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Hunger and food insecurity have been called America’s “hidden crisis.” At the same time, and apparently paradoxically, obesity has been declared an epidemic. Both obesity and are serious public health problems, sometimes co-existing in the same families and the same individuals. Their existence sounds contradictory, but those with insufficient resources to purchase adequate food can still be overweight, for reasons that researchers now are beginning to understand. Policymakers and the public need to better grasp this apparent paradox if our nation is to grapple with these parallel threats to the well-being of many children and adults, and avoid potentially damaging policy prescriptions arising from a mistaken belief that food insecurity and obesity cannot co-exist.
HUNGER AND FOOD INSECURITY THREATEN MANY LOW-INCOME PEOPLE IN THE US
Hunger and food insecurity affect more than 30 million people each year, according to national studies. Low-income households are much more likely than others to suffer from hunger and food insecurity since they have fewer resources to buy food.
OBESITY IS GROWING IN ALL POPULATION GROUPS
Simply stated, obesity results when energy intake exceeds energy expenditure. This explanation, however, provides little insight into the important social and environmental causes of higher energy consumption or lower energy expenditures. These causes include energy-dense high-fat foods and larger portion sizes, for example, and lower levels of physical activity.
Overall, the American population is growing more obese. Some low-income populations are also overweight. While the degree to which social, cultural, environmental, and genetic factors have contributed to the increase in obesity is not precisely known, we do know much that can help explain how low-income, food-insecure Americans can be overweight.
CAN OBESITY CO-EXIST WITH HUNGER AND FOOD INSECURITY?
While most Americans are affected by the social and environmental causes of higher energy consumption or lower energy expenditures previously described, many households face the additional burdens of low incomes, which often leave them insufficient money to buy food. Through recent research, scholars now are gaining a better understanding of how food insecurity can be related to obesity. Some of the research in this area is very new, and further research is likely to provide additional insights linking hunger and food insecurity to obesity.
Food insecurity exists when people, due to economic constraints, lack access to enough food to fully meet basic needs at all times. They fear running out of food, and reduce the
• Food insecurity occurs whenever the availability of nutritionally adequate and safe food, or the ability to acquire acceptable foods in socially acceptable ways, is limited or uncertain.
• Hunger is defined as the uneasy or painful sensation caused by a recurrent or involuntary lack of food and is a potential, although not necessary, consequence of food insecurity. Over time, hunger may result in malnutrition.
• Food insufficiency refers to an inadequate amount of food intake due to lack of resources.
quality of their diets and/or reduce the quantity of food they consume. Food insecurity is not limited to those for whom energy supplies are always inadequate, which helps explain why those who are food insecure can also be overweight.
A lack of adequate resources for food could result in weight gain in several ways:
The need to maximize caloric intake. One factor that may contribute to the co-existence of obesity and food insecurity is the need for low-income families to stretch their food money as far as possible. Without adequate resources for food, families must make decisions to maximize the number of calories they can buy so that their members do not suffer from frequent hunger. Low-income families therefore may consume lower-cost foods with relatively higher levels of calories per dollar to stave off hunger when they lack the money or other resources like food stamps to purchase a healthier balance of more nutritious foods. The greater the economic constraints, the harder it will be for families to achieve the nutritional quality of foods they desire.
The trade-off between food quantity and quality. The trade-off between food quantity and quality is shown by research on coping strategies among food-insecure households. This research shows that, along the continuum of typical coping strategies, food quality is generally affected before the quantity of intake. Households reduce food spending by changing the quality or variety of food consumed before they reduce the quantity of food eaten.As a result, while families may get enough food to avoid feeling hungry, they also may be poorly nourished because they cannot afford a consistently adequate diet that promotes health and averts obesity. In the short term, the stomach registers that it is full, not whether a meal was nutritious.
Overeating when food is available.Obesity can be an adaptive response to periods when people are unable to get enough to eat. Research indicates that chronic ups and downs in food availability can cause people to eat more, when food is available, than they normally would.When money or food stamps are not available for food purchases during part of the month, for example, people may overeat during the days when food is available. Over time, this cycle can result in weight gain.
Physiological changes.Physiological changes may occur to help the body conserve energy when diets are periodically inadequate. The body can compensate for periodic food shortages by becoming more efficient at storing more calories as fat.
COSTLY CONSEQUENCES
Both hunger/food insecurity and obesity have costly direct and indirect consequences. Obesity is a risk factor for heart disease, diabetes, several types of cancer, and other chronic health problems. It also is associated with premature death and disability, increased health care costs, and lost productivity.
Hunger and food insecurity impair health status, making people less likely to resist illness and more likely to become sick or hospitalized. Hunger is widely known to impair cognitive or mental function in children, leading to a reduced ability to learn and lower grades and test scores. Lack of adequate resources for food also negatively affects behavior, especially among children, leading to a greater need for mental health and special education services.
By impairing health status and cognitive function, hunger/ food insecurity and obesity not only limit the well-being of individuals, but also undermine the nation’s investments in education and our need for a more productive and competitive workforce.
SOLUTIONS TO HUNGER, FOOD INSECURITY, AND OBESITY
Both obesity and hunger/food insecurity require solutions that include regular access to nutritionally adequate food. Federal nutrition programs – food stamps, WIC, and child nutrition programs like school lunch and breakfast – historically have protected the nation’s most vulnerable people from severe hunger and malnutrition. Today, federal nutrition programs continue to be vital for health, education, and economic well-being, and are critical lifelines for families struggling at low-wage jobs. Eligibility for these programs needs to be expanded to reach more in need. Suggestions that food allotments should be reduced, on the grounds that nutrition programs contribute to obesity among the poor because they provide too much food, are without scientific merit.
Federal nutrition programs provide access to food, and, when working properly, can help families achieve food security. In addition, evidence shows that each of the major federal nutrition programs improves nutrition:
• The Food Stamp Program is the largest nutrition program for poor households. The program increases food security and enhances household nutrition.
• WIC (the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children) provides food packages geared to supplement the diets of low-income women, infants and children with key nutrients that are most likely to be lacking in their diets.
• The Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP) provides nutritious meals and snacks to children in child care programs.
Questions:
1. Vocabulary: define each of the words in bold on this worksheet.
2. Two Page Article: rewrite this article so that could be given to a child 8 to 12 years old to read to help them understand the problems of hunger and obesity. It should use supporting evidence from this article, but make certain it's on a reading level they would understand.